Pyongyang: North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has departed for Russia for an official visit, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, in a visit that comes as the United States said the North sent about 10,000 soldiers to eastern Russia for training.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the visit by Choe to Russia is expected to include discussions about a potential visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Moscow amid deepening military ties between the two countries. Choe left Pyongyang International Airport on Monday, the Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora were present to see Choe off.
The Russian Embassy in North Korea stated on its Facebook account that Choe’s visit is part of a “strategic dialogue” agreed upon by the leaders of both countries. The report came as the chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization confirmed Monday that North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia’s
western front-line Kursk region. The move could be intended to support Russia’s forces in the near future.
Russia’s TASS news agency also reported that Choe, who was in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Tuesday, will arrive in Moscow on Wednesday. The news agency cited diplomatic sources. “It’s difficult to speculate since North Korea has not clarified the agenda, but we anticipate possible coordination on specific responses to the troop deployment to Russia,” a unification ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
There is also widespread speculation that Choe’s visit may involve talks with Russian officials to arrange a potential visit by Kim to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It is anticipated that both sides will discuss a joint response strategy for after the U.S. presidential election, along with planning the schedule for Kim’s visit to Russia,” said Hyun Seung-soo, deputy director of the Korea Institute for National Unification, adding that Kim’s visit to Moscow cou
ld happen as early as next year.
North Korea and Russia have been bolstering military and other cooperation, with Kim and Putin holding summit talks in June in Pyongyang. They signed a new partnership treaty that includes a mutual defense clause. The North Korean foreign minister last visited Russia in September. She also traveled to Moscow in January, where she met with Putin.